Review, photos, and video of the return of Earl Sweatshirt, with Tyler, the Creator Frank Ocean, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, and the others

The average age among the mass of people waiting under the Hammerstein's majestic awning for the Odd Future show looked to be hovering around eighteen years old, bumped up a few notches because of the parents interspersed throughout. The crowd was still extremely, ridiculously young. Even the non-teenagers seemed young. Standing in line for a 21+ wristband, the guy behind me asked his buddy to share his (forthcoming) drink with him, saying, "I don’t have any money for drinks. My mom only gave me $20 for the train."

To start the evening, Odd Future's upcoming Adult Swim show "Loiter Squad" was projected onto a screen on stage. It's a "Jackass"-meets-"Chappelle's Show" sketch show; everyone in my vicinity seemed to become really interested in bootlegging it on their phones. After that, Syd the Kyd warmed the crowd up with a brief DJ set, going through Waka Flocka Flame, Crime Mob, and an Earl Sweatshirt song (foreshadowing).

After the crowd became good and lathered, Left Brain (carrying an open red, white, and blue America umbrella) and Hodgy Beats took the stage to "64", from MellowHype's BlackenedWhite reissue on Fat Possum. A few more members of Odd Future trickled onto stage, including Tyler, the Creator, who launched in "Transylvania", from Goblin. Domo Genesis jumped in with Tyler for "Rolling Papers".

One of the themes of the night-- and of The Odd Future Tape Vol. 2, in general-- was the even-handedness of it all. The whole group was involved. As their set progressed through newer tracks like "Lean", "50", and "Ned Flander", most of the group was on stage at all times, dancing, shaking, and rapping along. Even when Domo or Mike G weren't specifically featured on a song, they were still involved. Even Jasper was on stage carousing and drinking Hennessy.

At one point, Tyler stopped the show. "I remember it was November 5 of 2010. I was 19. We had our first show at Webster Hall. [It was actually November 8.--ed.] It was crazy how small that fucker was. And a year and two months later, we're playing this show. Back then we only had a handful of songs to play. This was one of them." Then he launched into "French". This kicked off a brief run of more obscure songs, some stuff from side projects. But by the time the run ended with "Tang Golf", things sort of blew up.

It was hard to tell at first, but you could sort of intuit based on the kinetic energy rolling off the bodies in front that something momentous was happening. It was Earl. After his appearance earlier in the day at Hot 97, it wasn't a huge surprise that he was there. But seeing him on stage, watching the love and energy from the kids in the crowd and the kids on stage surrounding him, was a really touching moment.

The group, bolstered by Earl, quickly ran through "Orange Juice", "Yonkers", "Assmilk", and "Kill". This is some of Odd Future's most vitriolic, bilious stuff. But it was also great-- uplifting. At first, Earl was somewhat swallowed by the place. Someone on stage told him to hold the mic closer to his mouth; you could barely hear him. But as he gained confidence, he started putting on an impressive show. Earl obviously lacked the polish and presence of Tyler, but his intensity was as focused as anyone on stage.

Later on, Tyler said, "my little brother came out. Now it's only fair my big brother came out." Frank Ocean took the stage to massive applause. Tyler set the scene for their next song, "She" by saying it was for "all the bitches in the crowd-- I take that back-- all the beautiful women." Has he learned something from the critical backlash and endless beefs? No. Other than that moment, there were many exhortations for bitches to do various things. Still, even during the chorus to "Bitch Suck Dick", men and women alike were yelling along.

Huge, scary mosh pits broke out all through the night. But at the end of every song, the previously pushing, swinging, punching dudes and girls gave each other sweaty, ecstatic hugs. And then did it all over again. Except for a few hiccups with sound, everything went perfectly. The night was extremely positive, despite the ridiculously nihilistic lyrics washing over everyone. As it wound down, Tyler, even, was visibly touched.

"Not to sound corny, but thank all you punk motherfuckers who came out tonight."

Odd Future ended on a great run of "Radicals", "Earl", and the complete, posse-encompassing "Oldie". I started my exit after Tyler's first verse on "Oldie", and my suspicions about Hammerstein's packed capacity were confirmed. Standing in the back, I got a good full-frame perspective on the stage. More and more people poured from the wings and backstage as "Oldie" went on. Earl was hard to hear-- still looking small, even swallowed by that big stage-- but his verse on the song was a gleeful lyrical tear through his consciousness. And then Tyler took over the stage to deliver his crushing finale, tracing the development of the group from idea to reality, and signed off saying, "not only are we talented, we rad as fuck." The stage was packed with Odd Future hangers-on; Tyler took a big, wide-armed bow.